


if neo and trinity managed, why can't we?

by hariboo



Category: Chuck - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-04
Updated: 2010-02-04
Packaged: 2017-10-07 00:51:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/59590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hariboo/pseuds/hariboo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Intersect's new upgrades might be cool, but that doesn't mean they make everything easy again. Chuck and Sarah the morning after. For <a href="http://little-giddy.livejournal.com/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://little-giddy.livejournal.com/"><b>little_giddy</b></a> who was in need of comfort fic due to essays melting her brain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	if neo and trinity managed, why can't we?

_**Fic: if neo and trinity managed, why can't we?**_  
**Title:** if neo and trinity managed, why can't we?  
**Fandom:** Chuck  
**Rating:** PG-15  
**Pairing:** Chuck/Sarah  
**Spoilers/Warnings:** spoilers up to s2 finale  
**Disclaimer:** not mine.  
**Summary:** The Intersect's new upgrades might be cool, but that doesn't mean they make everything easy again. Chuck and Sarah the morning after. For [](http://little-giddy.livejournal.com/profile)[**little_giddy**](http://little-giddy.livejournal.com/) who was in need of comfort fic due to essays melting her brain.   


* * *

  
  
**if neo and trinity managed, why can't we?**

He knows kung-fu. The _Intersect_, the new Intersect his dad made, again, that he downloaded into his brain, _again_, knows kung-fun and taught it to him. Him, Chuck Bartowski, the guy who only fights with video cards, now can drop about five Fulcrum agents in less than three minutes. Whatever upgrades they had made his dad make on the Intersect nobody could have expected this, because now, one flash later, he knows kung-fu and his body hurts like holy hell.

Everything hurts. Every muscle, every bone, every hair. He didn't even know hair _could_ hurt, but apparently he was _wrong_. On his bed, he's laying on his back staring at the ceiling, grateful that Devon and Ellie are on their honeymoon because he can't even _move_, let alone come up with an excuse for why he can't move. Last night, after everything happened, after they took Bryce back to Castle (and he can't think about _that_ now. Bryce.), after they briefed General Beckman, who had _not_ been happy with the situation, and it looked like Mission: Bartowski was still a Go. After everything Sarah brought him home. His dad had been waiting, sitting on the couch, hands over his knees with a look of worry gracing his face when they had walked in.

His dad had barely looked at him and _knew_. It must a parent thing to be able to look that worried and proud all at once. Then he hugged Chuck and finally they had let him get to bed, because he had been _exhausted_, spent physically, emotionally, mentally, and the Intersect might be New and Improved, but the flashes still felt like mini (_really painful_) headaches. He really should talk to his dad about that. Later, when he can move.

Now he's awake and everything aches. He wonders if his dad is on the couch or if he took Ellie and Devon's room, then groans, because thought really hurts too so Chuck goes back to doing what he's been doing since his alarm woke him up: not moving a muscle. Any muscle.

He's doing an admirable job in his opinion when he hears his door open, barely.

"Chuck? Are you up?"

It's Sarah. The smile comes unbidden, because it's Sarah and yeah, he'll move for her. "I'm up." Raising himself on his forearms he realises this was a bad idea letting his head drop back onto his pillow. "Okay, maybe not."

It's not that much of a distance from the door to his bed, but Sarah's in his room, door closed behind her, and at his side in less than a second. Her weight is welcomed on the bed; the mattress dips at his hip where she sits down. "Are you okay?" she asks, worried, her hand tucking his bed head behind his ear. It feels _good_. Great even, and he adds one more superpower to the Sarah column in his head, because magically his ear and the hair she's touching is the only part of his body not in pain anymore.

"I'm fine, I'm just—" He sighs and shifts to lean against the headboard. His shoulders hate him.

"Sore?" Sarah smiles over his grunt of pain.

"Yeah, apparently the new Intersect came with the level up option, but no healing potions." Sarah gives him an amused smile that he's learned means he's said something extremely nerdy even for her understanding (and after two years living in the same orbit of himself, Morgan and the Nerd headers, she understand _a lot_). He groans again, this time with a little more embarrassment and less pain, "Can you just pretend I said yes in a really manly way?"

This time she laughs, the sound a soothing balm over his spent body, her thumb by his cheek and _yeah, totally a superpower_. "Sure, but I'm not surprised, last night your body did things it never was trained to do. Your muscles got used in ways you aren't used to. It's not a surprise you're sore. That's why I came over. To make sure you were okay."

Chuck nods, letting his eyes close at the feeling of her fingers by the nape of his neck, hoping she'll never remove them. When he opens them again Sarah is still there, the light from his window doing things to her hair that make him want to kiss her. Instead he just smiles back at her, "Yeah I'm feeling the burn all right, but the moves? They were pretty cool. Very Neo."

"Very Neo, very hot." She agrees, then surprises him when she kisses him. It's so gentle he almost misses it and doesn't even get a chance to respond when she's standing by the door again. Okay, sometimes the moving faster than him is very annoying when it's not hot as hell. He blinks at her as her hand curls around the doorknob.

"I'm going to get you some aspirin and breakfast, then you should take a shower. Hmm, actually a bath would be better to relax your muscles. I'll start to draw it." Her voice and eyes are saying two different thing and he debates which one to listen to.

He's in pain, he's got the new Intersect in his head, he's tied himself to the CIA again and he's so tired of playing it safe, so he turns his Sarah Filter off and just asks. "Joining me?"

"Chuck." She flushes slightly, her cheeks acquiring a soft blush under her California tan. Now he _really_ wants to kiss her.

"Nothing you couldn't show on prime-time, just a bath. I hate to admit it but I'm too tired to think about _that_."

"Really?" She smirks, eyes travelling down his body and _damn_, she just made him a liar.

"Okay, _no_, but I promise, considering how everything, and I mean _everything_, even my fingernails hurts right now, I doubt I could even try what I want to do." He trails off at the end, feeling his own blush, because he didn't mean for it to sound like _that_, even if it is true, but still, he's trying to be a gentleman. All he wants is Sarah, and right now he'll willing to take anything he can. Sarah is looking at him, really looking at him, everything about her is tense and it's making him nervous. Maybe he should backtrack because one _almost_ in a motel room (Morgan still needs payback) might not be enough to convince her, but just about he's going to give her the out, she answers him.

"I'll get your aspirin then meet you in the bathroom." She walks about of the room, leaving the door open and Chuck falls back to his bed. _Ow_, he thinks with a smile.

*

Okay, so maybe the execution of this bath plan isn't as easy as the implementing of it, because right now he's standing in the giant (and really, has it always been so big?) bathroom waiting for Sarah. She told him she'd meet him in there and he's pretty sure she wasn't lying so, that's why he's standing in the middle of his bathroom, with a raging head— no, _full_ body ache, waiting for his pesudo-fake girlfriend feeling like a teenager. At least Ellie and Devon are gone, but oh shit—

_Is his dad even still in the apartment?_

At the sound of the door, his head snaps to where Sarah is stepping in, a glass of water and pills in hand.

"My dad isn't here, is he?" Later Chuck will wish those hadn't been his first words to Sarah, so _not_ Bond, and he was aiming for anything in the Bond department right now, even _Dalton_ Bond who Chuck thinks was never given his dues.

Bless Sarah, she only chuckles a little, handing him the glass and pills. "No, he left when I got here. General Beckman wanted to speak to him about the new Intersect."

"Oh, okay," Chuck takes the pills and puts the glass back down, "because I forgot he stayed, and well, it's not like he doesn't _know_ what happens when two people are in the—" he fumbles the words, gesturing vaguely towards the running bath and wants to smack himself. _So_ not Bond. "I mean, it would have been awkward, because there is only one bathroom, after all. I really should talk to Ellie about that. The bathroom thing, we could do with en suites. Yeah."

He's babbling, he's babbling in a very not Bond or Neo way and he only stops when Sarah steps up to him and takes his hands in her smaller, much softer ones. "Chuck." She smiles in _that_ way, which does make him feel Bond-ish and pulls him towards the bath. "Come on."

"Sarah, I meant it when I said just a bath." He feels like he needs to repeat that, his eyes focused on how her hand turns off the tap. _Bath, just a bath_, he chants like a mantra in his mind.

"I know. Come on." She pulls her shirt off and for the thousandth time in his life since he met her, Chuck Bartowski is in awe of Sarah Walker. She shucks her jeans off and it's all smooth, tan skin. Suddenly everything is warmer and tighter in his body.

"Sarah," he breathes. She steps closer and then his arms finish the job, pulling her towards him without his brain's permission. He knows she sees the kiss coming. He's also beyond amazed when her lips are warm, welcoming, if a bit chapped, but open to him readily. She cups his cheek and her fingers drift through his hand, pulling a moan out of him. Magical healing hands, he thinks as she pulls away. Not far, her body is still attached to his, her hands still warm on his neck and cheek.

"Let's get you in the bath." One hand drifts down to the ratty grey t-shirt he wore to sleep and she pulls it off in quick, fluid move.

After that all his nervousness dissipates and they finish undressing. In that first second after, when all the clothes are off they just look at each other, eyes locked onto each other, until they can't anymore and Chuck's eyes drop first, snapping back up in an instant, because yeah, he's still a _guy_. It's not like he can help it.

Sarah's laugh is the sweetest sound he's heard in his _whole_ life as she pulls his face down as presses a chaste kiss on his lips. "Bath, now, _that_, later. I'll get in first, you in front."

Chuck can only nod as he follows her in, slipping into the water in front of her like she asked and groans when the heated water covers his aching muscles. Okay, the water might not be the _only_ reason he groans feeling her breasts heavy against his back, her legs cradling him on either side of his body. She pulls him to her, positioning his head against her shoulder as they shift their long limbs.

"Better?" Sarah asks, combing her fingers through his hair.

"Hmm, yeah." He sighs and under the water he curls his hand over Sarah's knee, draping it over his thigh, pulling her closer. "This was a good idea."

"Yeah, it was." Her fingers don't stop stroking and her lips are warm by his ear.

Chuck hopes the water never cools down; he doesn't mind prune-y skin.

*

Wrapped in towels, Chuck and Sarah make their way to his room, inside he drops back on the bed with a sated moan. Baths are _awesome_, and manly. Yeah, totally manly, he thinks as he watches Sarah move around the room her hair sticking to her shoulders. There's an ease in every action she's making, like she knows where everything is (which she probably does), like she feels at home (which he hopes is true). Rifling through a couple of drawers she takes out a pair of boxers and an oversized shirt, tossing the former to him as she slips the shirt on.

"Feeling better?"

Chuck drops the towel on the floor beside the bed, "God, definitely. I will never mock bath takers again. Ever."

Sarah grins, crawling onto the bed. She's warm against his side fingering his damp curls, "Thank Ellie and her bath salts."

"I think they're Awesome's."

Her smile is pressing against his collarbone, "Ellie is one lucky woman then. Devon seems to be _very_ attentive."

"Ugh! Mental images I do _not_ want to have!" She chuckles, sliding against him, pressing a thigh in between his. It's warm and heavy on the muscles. He wants nothing more than drape her entire body on his so her muscles and curves can iron out the few remaining kinks in his body. He settles for curving his arm under her back. "Subject change, please?"

"Sure, Chuck." She says, soft and amused.

They say nothing, laying the mid-morning heat, her hair drying on his shoulder. Turning his head to face her, he lowers his chin, meeting her eyes. She looks at him like she did in the motel, like she did the bathroom. Their kisses are just becoming more fluid as they continue going down this road, no hesitance or awkwardness between them. Ironically all the awkwardness from their kisses have come _after_ never before, and Chuck stops dwelling on this fact as Sarah cradles his face, deepening the kiss. Her lips part against his and her tongue licks his bottom lip as if it's asking for permission. _Like she needed to_.

He tightens the arm around her, pressing closer to her and lets her in. The kiss turns wet and a little messy, but it's a nice heady feeling he clings to.

Minutes later they separate and he realises his hands have made it under her, really his, shirt. His fingers are splayed across her back, the bones of her spine bumping under his palm. He wonders if he presses his hand hard enough against her skin if he'll hear her heart. Then he blinks, realising she has her chest pressed against his and feeling her heart wouldn't be all that hard when he thinks about it. It's only moving his hand and pressing his palm between her breast— the thought makes him smile, because finally, she really _is_ that close.

Her eyes are drifting down to his mouth, "Chuck?"

He only closes the space between them again, drawing out one slow kiss, feeling her hands curl in his hair, her toes hook behind his knee. Their foreheads are pressed together and finally all the muscles that have felt tight, bruised, and battered relax and the tension in his back finally, finally, _finally_ melts away.

"Let's just take a nap, okay?" He breathes against the skin by her ear, feeling her sigh. "We'll take a nap and when we get up we'll get dinner and finish that date."

Sarah raises herself on her arm and looks at him. Her hair is falling on either side of her face and her lips do this almost smile thing before she nods and settles back down at his side. "You know, everything is going to get more complicated now, right? All the surveillance is going to go back up soon. The cover, the lying, it's all going to start again."

"Yeah, but that's later and we have all day." He turns on his side, smiling when she does the same to face him. Her hand cups his cheeks and he know that even if everything else turns back into lies, this, this thing between them is real.


End file.
